"Stony, you work on twenty-two today with Malfie. Vinny, you got the deck with Jimmy."

Stony stooped down and lifted a cable. Artie stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Sonny, you lift like that you gonna look down an' see your balls on the floor. Never stoop, always bend."

Stony climbed the temporary wooden stairs up twenty-two flights. There were no banisters and some of the landings were only a broad beam of wood lying diagonally over a five-by-five space that covered a drop of anywhere from one hundred to two hundred feet, depending on the floor. The cable weighed seventy-five pounds and after five flights Stony's shoulder was on fire, but he couldn't rest because he was in the middle of a caravan of men, all carrying the same burden. At fifteen, Tommy and Blackie dropped off to work that floor, at eighteen, two more, at twenty, two more; he and Malfie got off at twenty-two, and Vinny and Jimmy O'Day kept going until they hit the highest level of the building, the deck. Once off the stairs, Stony dropped the spool of cable on its end and used the other round end as a seat. He sat there, head between his knees, trying to catch his breath. When he looked up he could see for miles across the Bronx from this height, a chunky sea of TV antennas, high-rise buildings and housing projects. Stony was awed by the ugliness of it all. Malfie passed Stony, dropped his load about fifty feet away, sat down on the spool and lit a cigarette. As Stony was getting up to roll his cable toward Malfie, Tommy's head appeared. "Hey, kiddo! Howya doin'?"

Stony groaned. "My back is killin' me."

"Nothin', you'll get used to it. Hey, lissen, you're the gofer today. You got a pencil and paper?"

"No."

"Here." Tommy handed him a scrap of brown paper and a chewed pencil. "Go get all the guys' coffee orders an' go over to the Greek's, that luncheonette where I parked the car, O.K.? An' don't forget the guys on the deck."

"Right now?" Stony was exhausted.

"Right now, an' come back fast so the coffee don't get cold. You can put me down for a black no sugar and a cheese Danish, O.K.? An' don't forget nobody—get Artie too down in the trailer." Tommy winked and ran downstairs.

Stony started with the deck, stopping at all the floors where the electricians worked. Eager to please, he tore ass out of the building to get Artie's order in the trailer. Artie stood on the steps. "Whoa! Whoa! You run like that, you'll knock out an eye. Take it easy, take it easy." Stony made himself slow down.

"I'm goin' for coffee, you want anything?"

Artie dug into his pocket and gave Stony a dollar. "Yeah. Get me a black coffee and an English muffin." He ducked his head into the trailer. "Hal, you want anything? The kid's goin' out. Make that two blacks, an' don't run!"